Only about 5% of consumers are willing to shell out for paywall-ed content, says Matt Minoff, President & CEO of Manhattan-based Selectable Media, a digital platform that unlocks premium content via advertising. He’s betting that tools like those Selectable offers can help publishers tap into the other 95%, he tells Beet.TV in a video interview. Microsoft likes Selectable Media’s prospects — the tech giant added the startup to its Bing Fund late last year.

Selectable Media has worked with companies such as HBO, NBC, ABC and Kraft to feature their brands across various publishers. As an advertising platform, Selectable Media applies its technology to premium content, weaving in brand messages into places that normally have paywalls, such as airport wi-fi, newspapers and magazines. As an example, Selectable Media worked with Wendy’s to offer a store-locator type of ad against premium programming, Minoff says. Users could type in their location and find the closest store. “Because of the value exchange, users are willing to take the next step,” he explains, adding that Selectable Media operates on a cost-per-completed view model, so marketers only pay when someone has watched the whole video and usually when they’ve engaged with the interactive element, such as downloading a coupon or taking a survery.

Last last year, Microsoft invested in the firm via its Bing Fund that provides funding, mentoring and use of Bing’s APIs. Via the relationship, Selectable Media will be able to embed its tools into new devices and content platforms surrounding Windows 8, Minoff tells us. The technology will deploy in the next few months.

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